


Loaded Gun

by litra



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Character Study, Gen, Podfic Welcome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-15
Updated: 2015-06-15
Packaged: 2018-04-04 14:37:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4141524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/litra/pseuds/litra
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eggsy heard the gunshot from the other room. He didn’t hear the thoughts behind it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loaded Gun

**Author's Note:**

> This has been sitting in my head since I saw the movie. Not sure if I managed to get it down properly but here it is anyway.

Loaded Gun: Eggsy heard the gunshot from the other room. He didn’t hear the thoughts behind it.

There were two of them left. this was the last test. They both knew it. Or at least Roxy hoped Eggsy knew it, if he was still being dense after all they’d been through then he was a lost cause whether he made it in or not. 

Going in it looked like an interview. Merlin had sat her down and started talking. He asked how she was feeling that day.

“Good, thank you.”

He asked if she’d enjoyed her time off.

“I finally got to take a proper bath.”  

He asked what she thought of the tests and training.

“Well, Kingsman is certainly unique in it’s methods, at the very least.”

He asked what she thought being in the field would be like.

“I’m trying not to expect anything. I still have to get in after all.”

He asked her a lot of things. Then he handed her the gun.

Roxy hadn’t known quite what to expect, but a gun hadn’t been out of the realm of possibility. She was a markman. She was the single best shot not only of all the candidates, but rumor had it, of all the active Kingsmen as well. She knew how to strip, clean, rebuild, load and fire, every weapon she’d been handed over the past several weeks.

This was a standard handgun. They could all fire over 200 with a gun like this; that had been test number four. She automatically checked the slide and clip, That was rule one when handed a weapon, a single bullet in the chamber, clip empty. One shot.

Right there she knew what kind of test this would be.

“You’re an incredible shot.” Merlin said. Roxy smiled faintly but otherwise kept the gun at her side and waited for her orders. “Shoot the dog.”

Roxy looked down at her dog. 

A part of her screamed No. Then the more rational part of her took over.

This was a test. 

This was a test, so figure out the answer. Stop thinking about it like it was the dog she’d trained and played with. This was a test, so detach, separate the elements and find the purpose behind each. 

She had a gun with one bullet.

He’d told her to kill the dog.

The dog that had slept at the foot of her bed and -- No. Just the dog. The dog wasn’t anything to him, just a tool for this moment. He expected her to raise the gun and….

What?

She took a breath and the sniper’s calm settled over her.

She had a target and it wasn’t her dog. Her target was the same thing it had been since day one. She was going to be a Kingsman. What did she need to do to be a Kingsman?

The situation was hardly an original one.

If she pulled the trigger:

It would mean she was willing to sacrifice the things she loved. Sacrifice her own friends and family even; a necessary skill for an agent. If she was ever compromised everything and everyone that she loved would become a target. By necessity then, Kingsmen could be her only family. Pulling the trigger would prove her to be cold-hearted enough to distance herself willingly from those factors. 

Pulling the trigger would prove she could follow orders no matter how distasteful.

Pulling the trigger would prove she could, and would, put the mission above all.

Except that was the psychology of a madman. 

A person who had no ties had nothing to fight and live for.

A person who was willing to unquestioningly follow orders for a mysterious organization was just as likely to do so for the wrong reasons as the right ones.

A person who put the mission above all else could be easily blinded to new factors.

If she didn’t pull the trigger:

It would prove that she was just another emotional girl, but it would also prove she had compassion. There was no reason to kill her dog other than to be cruel. The Kingsmen did what was required, but when the hard choices came they took no pleasure in dishing out pain.

A gentleman was always a gracious victor. Excessive force and wasting resources was very poor form, and that was exactly what this was.

Merlin had purposely given her the dog to raise and care for. Merlin had trained her to follow orders: to observe and analyze and act. Merlin had handed her the gun.

Roxy was the best shot in the agency. There was no way she could miss. 

Observe, analyze act. Roxy raised the gun with a steady hand, and pulled the trigger.

Because there was no way she could miss the fact that the bullet was a blank. Rule one, always check your weapon. 

Merlin nodded. “Welcome to Kingsman, Lancelot.”


End file.
